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Scott and Bohonnon tops in thrilling Moscow aerials city event
Danielle Scott (AUS) and Mac Bohonnon (USA) capped off an outstanding competition with victories under the lights at the second aerials World Cup city event of the season in Moscow, Russia.
With several thousand spectators on hand, 40 dancers, Russian rap stars performing, and all the atmosphere that comes with a top-tier aerials competition held within the limits of one of the great cities in the world, Saturday's Moscow event was one of the highlights of the 2014/15 FIS Freestyle calendar.
Scott made her way to the big final somewhat inauspiciously, qualifying in fourth and finding herself in fifth place after the first final round. However, once in the super final she showed her trump card, throwing down a perfect double full, full, that earned her a score of 94.82 and her first career World Cup win at one of the tour's premier events.
The win was also Scott's second podium of the season, and came on the heels of back-to-back disappointments at the previous aerials World Cup in Lake Placid, USA, where she finished both competitions outside of the top-10. With the win, Scott leapfrogs Xu Mengtao (CHN) and sits now in second on the World Cup leader board behind Kiley McKinnon (USA).
Scott was suitably thrilled following the competition.
"I'm feeling incredible. This is a feeling that money can't buy. It's a lot of hard work that's gone into this and it's finally paid off. For the end of the season (in Minsk) I'm hoping to just keep doing what I've been doing and hopefully finish on top again."
McKinnon also jumped solidly all evening, earning a third-place result and her fourth podium of the season to extend her World Cup lead to 63 points over Scott with only one event left in the 2014/15 aerials calendar.
Second place on the night went to Ashley Caldwell (USA), whose commitment to throwing the toughest jumps out of any of the ladies' earned her a strong result despite some minor problems in her landings.
Local favourite Liubov Nikitina (RUS), only 16 years old, earned the best result of her rookie campaign with a fourth-place finish.
On the men's side, it was breakout story of the year Mac Bohonnon (USA) stepping up and putting it down for his second-ever World Cup win and fourth podium of the season, closing the gap between himself and aerials World Cup leader Qi Guangpu (CHN) to only 29 points in the process.
All three of the podium winners on the night chose to go with the same double-full, full, full jump in the super final, but it was Bohonnon, jumping second-to-last, who did it best, and his score of 123.08 would stand up to one final test by Russian star Ilya Burov.
Bohonnon was clearly feeling the good vibes at the end of the night.
"I feel awesome. I feel so good. The other week in Lake Placid was my first World Cup win and I'm still excited about that, but then to come here, with everyone jumping so well, I had to give it everything I had tonight. And being here in Russia, the crowd was awesome, the scaffold set-up was awesome...I had a blast."
Burov had registered the highest score of the night in the first final, but he was unable to bring quite the same magic in the super final, ending up with a score of 122.62 that was just off Bohonnon's pace. Still, Burov's third podium of the season was enough to give the Russian fans something to celebrate in post-event party.
Third place went to Maxim Gustik (BLR), showing again that even in a quiet season, the Belarusians are always a podium threat.
The World Cup tour now moves to Gustik's homeland for the final event of the season, as we wrap up the 2014/15 aerials campaign in Minsk on March 3rd.
Source: fis-ski.com
With several thousand spectators on hand, 40 dancers, Russian rap stars performing, and all the atmosphere that comes with a top-tier aerials competition held within the limits of one of the great cities in the world, Saturday's Moscow event was one of the highlights of the 2014/15 FIS Freestyle calendar.
Scott made her way to the big final somewhat inauspiciously, qualifying in fourth and finding herself in fifth place after the first final round. However, once in the super final she showed her trump card, throwing down a perfect double full, full, that earned her a score of 94.82 and her first career World Cup win at one of the tour's premier events.
The win was also Scott's second podium of the season, and came on the heels of back-to-back disappointments at the previous aerials World Cup in Lake Placid, USA, where she finished both competitions outside of the top-10. With the win, Scott leapfrogs Xu Mengtao (CHN) and sits now in second on the World Cup leader board behind Kiley McKinnon (USA).
Scott was suitably thrilled following the competition.
"I'm feeling incredible. This is a feeling that money can't buy. It's a lot of hard work that's gone into this and it's finally paid off. For the end of the season (in Minsk) I'm hoping to just keep doing what I've been doing and hopefully finish on top again."
McKinnon also jumped solidly all evening, earning a third-place result and her fourth podium of the season to extend her World Cup lead to 63 points over Scott with only one event left in the 2014/15 aerials calendar.
Second place on the night went to Ashley Caldwell (USA), whose commitment to throwing the toughest jumps out of any of the ladies' earned her a strong result despite some minor problems in her landings.
Local favourite Liubov Nikitina (RUS), only 16 years old, earned the best result of her rookie campaign with a fourth-place finish.
On the men's side, it was breakout story of the year Mac Bohonnon (USA) stepping up and putting it down for his second-ever World Cup win and fourth podium of the season, closing the gap between himself and aerials World Cup leader Qi Guangpu (CHN) to only 29 points in the process.
All three of the podium winners on the night chose to go with the same double-full, full, full jump in the super final, but it was Bohonnon, jumping second-to-last, who did it best, and his score of 123.08 would stand up to one final test by Russian star Ilya Burov.
Bohonnon was clearly feeling the good vibes at the end of the night.
"I feel awesome. I feel so good. The other week in Lake Placid was my first World Cup win and I'm still excited about that, but then to come here, with everyone jumping so well, I had to give it everything I had tonight. And being here in Russia, the crowd was awesome, the scaffold set-up was awesome...I had a blast."
Burov had registered the highest score of the night in the first final, but he was unable to bring quite the same magic in the super final, ending up with a score of 122.62 that was just off Bohonnon's pace. Still, Burov's third podium of the season was enough to give the Russian fans something to celebrate in post-event party.
Third place went to Maxim Gustik (BLR), showing again that even in a quiet season, the Belarusians are always a podium threat.
The World Cup tour now moves to Gustik's homeland for the final event of the season, as we wrap up the 2014/15 aerials campaign in Minsk on March 3rd.
Source: fis-ski.com
